


Rollin' Days

by lacewood



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Gen, Seirin High - Freeform, Shuutoku High (Freeform)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-08-18
Updated: 2015-07-26
Packaged: 2017-11-12 09:10:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 8,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/489197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lacewood/pseuds/lacewood
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of drabbles and short fic for various characters.</p><blockquote>
  <p>1: Hyuuga finds Riko outside the hospital (Seirin backstory)<br/>2: The team visits Kiyoshi in the hospital after they lose in the Tokyo finals (Seirin backstory)<br/>3: It's 3.07am in LA and Aomine has no idea where he is (future-fic)<br/>4: Midorima has a secret - but he's not the only one (supernatural AU)<br/>5. Kuroko faces Akashi in the chunnin exams (Naruto AU)<br/>6. Aomine meets <s>the in-laws</s> Kise's sisters<br/>7. Kiyoshi comes back to a surprise (post-series)<br/>8. Hyuuga never counted on meeting Actual Delinquent Kiyoshi Teppei (delinquent AU)<br/>9. The transfer student appears on Tuesday morning (World Trigger AU)</p>
</blockquote>
            </blockquote>





	1. Or Maybe We Could Stick Around (Hyuuga/Riko)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hyuuga finds Riko outside the hospital, a familiar green and white uniform leaning against the glass wall of the entrance. (Seirin backstory)

Hyuuga finds Riko outside the hospital, a familiar green and white uniform leaning against the glass wall of the entrance. He pauses at the sight, surprised and yet - not.

“I thought you were heading back with the others,” he says to her waiting back, and she turns.

Her eyes are red, he realises, and now he really is surprised. Horrified, actually, because Hyuuga has known Riko for coming on six years and he has never seen her cry once, not even that time a boy in their class shoved her down the stairs when she punched him for making one of her friends cry.

“A-are you crying?! What?! Why--”

She scrubs her face with her sleeve and says, voice muffled, “I’m not crying! I just got something in my eye. You’re a idiot.”

“What?” he starts to protest. Then he stops and looks away. “So... I guess you heard, huh?” he says, because it’s obvious.

The way it was obvious Kiyoshi was lying about his injury; and if Hyuuga was smart enough to see through it, then Riko would too.

She gives one last, loud sniff, then straightens, shoulders pulling back as if the last five minutes never happened, and Hyuuga pretends not to notice. “You’re all idiots,” she tells him and he doesn’t argue.

By unspoken agreement, they start walking to the train station together. Evening is falling, the sky bright and the shadows long, and they’re probably going to have to fight the rush hour crowd home. It’s been a long time since they’ve walked together like this, without the chatter of team or schoolmates around them.

They’re crossing the overhead bridge when Riko suddenly says, “There’s really - really no way we can make him go for the operation, is there?” Her lips are pressed thin and she continues, “I should have seen it. I didn’t even realise he was having problems with his knee. I could have pulled him out earlier, what if he never plays again--”

“Riko!” Hyuuga grabs her wrist and pulls her to a stop. She looks at him and she’s not crying, only angry. She's furious with _herself_. Hyuuga will never forgive Kiyoshi if Riko blames herself for this. “Don’t say that! It’s not your fault.”

“I’m the coach,” she says, fierce. “You’re my team, I’m responsible for you. All of you.”

“And I’m the captain,” he says. “So - that means me too. I couldn’t stop Kirisaki Daichi. They’re the bastards that did this and they think they can get away with it. People who play like that--” his fingers tighten around her wrist. Hanamiya smiled at them with his mocking, mocking eyes and there was nothing any of them could do about it. Nothing they can do about it _now_ , though the urge to hunt him down and make him pay is still very, very strong.

“What if we let him do this and he gets hurt again?” Riko says and they look at each other.

Hyuuga doesn’t really have a good answer for this. Injuries happen all the time in basketball - even to the most careful players, even against honourable opponents. And no one ever knows what Kiyoshi will do next. Most of the time you can’t even tell if the moron’s thinking at all.

“We won’t let that happen,” he says. “He’s not going to listen to us even if we tell him to go for the operation. He thinks he can just do what he wants and we’ll let him get away with it, but we know better. And we won’t let it happen. I’ll kick his ass myself if I have to."

Riko cracks the glimmer of a smile. “Big words.”

“Hey, are you saying I can’t do it?” Hyuuga says, offended. “I’m the Captain, okay! The Captain! Show some respect.”

She snorts and punches him in the shoulder. “Tell that to me when you can finish triple training without crying. We’ll need to tell the rest too, you know.”

Hyuuga knows. And he knows that they still have three more matches in the Tokyo finals that they’ll have to face without Kiyoshi, and their chances have never looked worse. But Hyuuga made his choice on the school roof, and he's seeing this through to the bitter end.

“I guess that makes me an idiot too,” Riko says.

“The biggest idiot is the one in the hospital room,” Hyuuga says. They’re drawing near the station now and it’s every bit as packed as he’d feared. “We’re never getting home like this,” he grouses, looking at the crowd. Another thing to blame Kiyoshi for - he’s like a giant ball of trouble, radiating troublesomeness like a force field, pulling everyone in. He dragged Hyuuga back into basketball, and Riko after him, and the Seirin team with them, and now they’re stuck. With him, with this, with their big, stupid, impossible promise waiting to be kept.

“Stop complaining, it hasn’t even started yet,” Riko says. “Let’s go.”

_end_


	2. Deferment (Kiyoshi/Seirin)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team visits Kiyoshi in the hospital after they lose in the Tokyo finals. (Seirin backstory)

The team visits Kiyoshi in the hospital after they lose in the Tokyo finals.

Three straight defeats. Riko texts him the scores and the numbers, yeah, they’re pretty bad. The team‘s crushed. They try their best to hide it, but the veneer of optimism crackles over sudden drops in conversation, awkward smiles. Kiyoshi doesn’t blame them, and they’re putting on a good front for him.

In a midst of a lull, he says, “Hey, Hyuuga, what was that you said when the teachers busted us on the roof? If we didn’t make nationals?”

Hyyuuga scowls. “What?”

“Didn’t you say something about confessing naked to the girl you like?”

Hyuuga twitches and the entire team stares at the both of them.

“I forgot about that,” Izuki says, horrified.

“Hey, does it count if only Hyuuga said it? Do you think Coach will really make all of us do it?!” Koganei asks.

“This is Riko, of course she will!”

“But what if we don’t have anyone we like? Who do we confess to then?” Kiyoshi asks in all seriousness.

“That’s not the problem here!”

“Ah? Hyuuga, you already have someone in mind?” Kiyoshi says.

Hyuuga splutters as four pairs of eyes swivel to fix on him with interest.

“Wait what how - no, okay, no! It was just a stupid idea! I wasn’t thinking!”

“Really, Hyuuga?” Izuki says. “No one in mind at all? Not even… ”

“NO, NOT EVEN RIKO,” Hyuuga roars, sealing his fate at top volume.

“Coach, huh?”

“We didn’t mention Riko,” Kiyoshi points out thoughtfully. “But she’s a great person, it’s a good choice,” he says in encouraging tones.

“Oh my god you asshole,” Hyuuga says. Mitobe grabs him before he can lunge - which proves Kiyoshi’s point, right? They’re all a lot faster than they used to be, they’ve come really far in just six months with Riko’s coaching! Though Hyuuga probably isn’t thinking about the coaching, haha.

The nurse on duty looks into the room just then and shakes her head at the scene. “Boys, I know you’re in a good mood but this is a hospital. If you can’t keep it down I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” she says. Izuki has to make soothing noises until she’s mollified enough to let them stay, and Mitobe doesn’t let go of Hyuuga till she’s gone.

The rest of the team snickers unhelpfully while their captain seethes.

“So we know Hyuuga’s all set but where does that leave us?” Koganei says, blithely ignoring the muttered threat about “picking up balls for the rest of the year” behind him.

“All set for what?”

Like a herd of deer caught in the headlights of an incoming cement mixer, the team freezes and Hyuuga’s face turns an impressive shade of crimson.

Riko stands in the door and beams the smile of a judge of divine retribution descended upon them.

“I was wondering where everyone was,” she says. “What a coincidence, huh?”

“C-coach! Ahaha, didn’t Hyuuga tell you we were coming? We um, thought we should just check how Kiyoshi was! And uh, break the… news…and stuff…”

She drops a stack of DVDs on Kiyoshi’s side table and hands him a pink plastic bag of dorayaki, so fresh that they’re still warm in their white paper wrappers. “From that stall near the school you like,” she says.

Hyuuga has barely wrestled his face back into a semblance of normality when she looks at him. “So what was that about being all set?”

“Nothing!” he says. “Nothing at all. Training and - and stuff. You didn’t tell me you were dropping by.”

“I wasn’t sure I had time but Ayano offered to help with the accounts,” she said, and looks at the team, long and searching. They squirm under her stare.

“What are you looking at us like that for?” Hyuuga asks suspiciously for all of them.

“Hm? No reason,” she says with a deeply un-reassuring smile.

Koganei sighs. “Ah man, back to training again tomorrow. Do we really have to?”

Hyuuga jabs an elbow in his side. “Don’t complain, do you want to double it?”

“No! No way. Haha, what was I saying, training is the best, right, guys? The best.”

Riko gives them a knowing look but seems to decide to let Koganei off for once. Or maybe not, because she says, “Think of it as extra preparation for your rooftop promise. After all, you’ll want to show your best side to the girl you like, right?”

“Nooooo!” “Shit! I knew it!” “Coooooach!”

“After all, a man’s promise has to be kept,” Riko continues. “I’m sure the whole school is expecting it!”

While the team enacts a tragedy in five acts, Kiyoshi chews his way through his dorayaki, and says, “Ah, no help for it, I guess it has to be the principal.”

“Eh? What?”

“There’s no one I really like in school right now,” he says, scratching his cheek thoughtfully. “So since I have to confess to someone… the principal seems to be the best choice!”

“What?! What kind of reason is that?!”

“Is this some kind of joke?” Hyuuga demands, jabbing a finger in his face “You’ll get expelled! The whole club will be disbanded! And you can’t even leave the hospital!”

The whole team realises this point and sags in relief. Kiyoshi can hardly confess naked to anyone, much less their terrifying, grandmotherly principal, if he’s not even allowed to leave his bed.

Riko bites back a giggle. Then she gives up and doubles over, laughing so hard she pounds a fist on the bed and the team starts to look vaguely worried.

“We’re being serious, you know,” Hyuuga grumbles at her while she wheezes.

She gives one last giggle and wipes a tear from the corner of her eye. “I know,” she says. “But I guess Teppei is going to have some trouble confessing to anyone in hospital, huh? We don’t want him upsetting the nurses.” She straightens. “Since Teppei’s injured, I’ll give you guys a one year extension. But we’re all going to the Nationals together next year, so it’s number one in Japan, no more excuses! Got it?”

Tsuchida lets out a small cheer before Izuki and Hyuuga manage to gag him. But it’s too late - the nurse, who might have been lurking outside waiting for the infraction, reappears and makes it clear that the team has outstayed their welcome. Riko is allowed to remain on account of being a recent arrival but the others are firmly shooed out, waving their goodbyes over their shoulders.

Riko takes the chair recently occupied by Izuki next to the bed and Kiyoshi offers her the last dorayaki. She shakes her head and says, “They look better than I expected.”

He looks at her. “Hm?”

“Everyone’s been really down since the last match. To be honest, I was pretty worried,” she says. “But it looks like they’ve cheered up.”

“Haaa, is that so?”

She gives him a stern look. “Those are the DVDs of the last 3 matches. Let me know what you think when you’ve had time to watch them. There’s no time to go easy, if we’re going to be ready for next year.”

No one - not Riko, not the team - has said anything about Kiyoshi’s extended stay in the hospital. They don’t ask, so Kiyoshi doesn’t tell, and Hyuuga talks about next year like it’s just around the corner, already breathing down their necks.

“We’ll be waiting,” she says. “So don’t go slacking off.”

_end_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Submitted to [basketballpoesociety](http://basketballpoetsociety.tumblr.com/) on tumblr, for Challenge #11: Backstory


	3. 3.07am, Los Angeles (Aomine)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's 3.07am in LA and Aomine has no idea where he is. (Future-fic)

Less than six months into Los Angeles, her streets and avenues and bypasses are still unfamiliar to Aomine’s eye, menacing in their alienation and street signs that he can only half-read. It’s 3am in the fucking morning, he has no idea where he is, and even he knows these aren’t smart things to be in the city of so-called angels.

Jon is still puking his guts into the gutter in front of a dry-cleaner’s. He ran out of actual things to puke a while back and moved on to dry heaving and bile. He can’t seem to stop shaking. Aomine has seen the guy drunk before but this looks, even to him, pretty bad. He stares at the hideous technicolor suits in the shopfront on the other side of the street, mentally calculates the time difference and then sits down on the curb, gets out his phone, and sends a message.

_oi how do you tell if someone has alcohol poisoning_

Midorima’s reply comes faster than he expected.

_HOW MUCH DID YOU DRINK_

_not me idiot my teammate won’t stop puking_

The next reply takes a little longer.

_Just because I am a second year medical student does not make me an expert in medical emergencies happening halfway across the world._

Aomine rolls his eyes. The message after that finally gets to the point:

_Is he conscious? Is he having seizures? If sleeping wake him. Check temperature and heartbeat and breathing if they’re irregular get him to the hospital._

Aomine gets up and prods Jon in the side. Jon groans in answer. Aomine kneels beside him and checks his pulse. It flutters, quick but steady under his thumb, and to Aomine’s unprofessional eye, he looks like he’s breathing normally.

_he’s awake pulse and breathing normal just stopped throwing up_

_He should recover. Make him re-hydrate._

Well, he would if he had any idea how to get them back. Aomine wanders down the street and glares at the signs on the corner. Then he scrolls through the numbers in his phone, most of them not actually keyed in by him. It would serve Jon right if he called their coach to save their asses, but even Aomine is, in his way, occasionally capable of kindness. It explains why he let himself be dragged out here in the first place.

He calls Alex. By this point it’s too late to hope Kagami never finds out that Alex’s phone number was the most useful thing anyone in Japan gave him when he left. They’ll owe her, but Jon and the boy problems he was stupid enough to try and drink away got them into this, so Jon can deal.

She picks up on the third ring. “Daiki!” Yeah, still wide awake, some kind of music playing in the background, he’s not even surprised. “You’re up late, what’s up?”

“Yo,” he says. “Need a lift, my teammate’s a moron.”

He can hear her grin even over the line. “Being the responsible one huh? Taiga’ll be so proud. Where are you kids? I’ll be right over.”

_end_


	4. Perspective (Midorima/Takao)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Midorima has a secret - but he's not the only one. (supernatural AU)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For [half_sleeping](http://archiveofourown.org/users/half_sleeping/)

Seen from a certain angle, Midorima’s eccentricities are bizarre, but completely predictable. You could even call them logical - the daily quota of three selfish requests was clearly carefully bargained to allow for (1) accomodation of whatever weird lucky item he’s lugging around for the day, (1) request that he have the showers and lockers entirely to himself at the end of practice, and (1) extra left over for “just in case”. 

Very prudent. Perfectly logical. All you need is the right point of view. 

Of course, Takao’s guess could be wrong. He’s only known Midorima for two weeks and they’ve barely had one full conversation in that time. But he’d like to think this isn’t just about idle curiosity. 

In the distance, he hears a shower stop. For a moment, water gurgles noisily down the drain, and then footsteps slap across wet tile.

Funny, how those don’t quite sound like… human feet. 

The door linking the showers to the lockers swings open, and Midorima stops. Freezes. 

Takao looks up from his phone. “Yo.”

Midorima stands in the door, towel around his waist, water dripping from his damp hair, puddling around his webbed feet. Under the merciless glare of the locker room lights, his scaled skin gleams with a murky, green-blue iridescence.

“ _What are you doing here_?” he demands, having visibly cycled through shock and panic and landed on outrage.

Takao shrugs. “Nothing much? Just hanging around,” he says. 

Midorima splutters. “Nothing?! Look at yourself! What are you doing?!” 

Takao looks down. The bench is a metre below him, shit, he must have gotten distracted. He lands with a thump. “There, that better?” he says, and unfolds his legs to plant his feet back on solid ground. 

Midorima just gives him a look of horror, then sweeps the room with a belated glare, as if he half expects the rest of the team to be lying in wait.

“No need to panic, I’m the only one here,” Takao says. “I just thought maybe this’d make you feel a little better.”

“Feel better?” Midorima echoes, baffled. “To know that--”

Takao rolls his shoulders into a ripple of air - and black wings fill the cramped confines of the locker room. He tucks them back so they take up less room, and looks up into Midorima’s gaping face.

“To know that you’re not alone? Sure. It made me feel better. That’s part of why I came to Shuutoku. You really didn’t know, did you? Didn’t Coach say anything?” 

He briefly entertains the mental image of Coach interrogating Midorima with ‘Are you a kappa? Were your parents kappas? How do you feel about drowning people?’ and cracks up. “Okay, maybe he wouldn’t have. But you know how they say Shuutoku has a lot of history? It’s not all human, that’s all.” 

After a moment of silence, Midorima heads for his locker. His scales are fading, more a faint green tracery under his skin than anything obvious now, but his bare feet are still wider and flatter than a human’s should be. He pulls on his school uniform, puts on his glasses, and turns to study Takao. 

“You’re a tengu,” he finally says. Takao nods, and with another twist of air, folds his wings back into himself. Midorima still doesn’t say anything, just sits on the bench, lifts a foot and glares at it until it returns to something resembling human size, and then pulls on his socks and shoes. To all appearances, they are nothing more than a pair of ordinary high school boys now. 

Midorima says, “Coach Nakatani mentioned - nothing - during my interview. But he told me that - I would be welcome here, whatever my doubts.”

He stands, faces Takao full on, and says, with stiff formality. “I see that he was correct. Thank you.”

Takao raises his eyebrows and doesn’t smile, because Midorima looks so serious he might take offense. “Nothing to thank me for. We’re teammates, right?”

He blinks. “Yes.”

“I’ll try not to barge in on your privacy like that again. Just thought things would be easier to explain this way.”

Midorima hesitates. “The rest of the team…”

“I won’t say anything, if that’s what you’re worried about. But some of the others might have guessed anyway. We’re probably not the only ones, you know.”

“I… see,” Midorima finally says. “I will… take note.” 

Figuring that he needs some time alone to process everything, Takao picks up his bag to head for the door.

“See you tomorrow,” Midorima says, unprompted, for the first time in their acquaintance. Takao flashes him a surprised look over his shoulder and quirks a smile. 

“Tomorrow,” he agrees. 

_end_


	5. Bloodline (Akashi/Kuroko)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kuroko faces Akashi in the chunnin exams (Naruto AU)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For [readerofasaph](http://archiveofourown.org/users/readerofasaph)

Taiga gripped the railing that ran around the upper gallery of the examination hall and glared at the scene below. This had to be someone’s idea of a sick joke, right? Since when did they match teammates up against each other in the chunnin fights like this?

Down in the arena, Kuroko stood, as calm and unmoved as always. One part of Kagami wanted to yell at him to forfeit the match. There was no way he could win this, or get through it in one piece. But Kagami knew what he’d do if he was in Kuroko’s place, and he knew Kuroko. 

He wasn’t going to back down, not with that bastard Akashi standing at the other end of the arena. 

Akashi said, his white eyes opaque and unreadable, “You know there is no way you can win this, Tetsuya. Are you truly prepared to stand against a teammate and a member of the clan?”

Kuroko said, “The fact that I am standing here should be answer enough, Akashi-sama.” 

Then Kuroko - who never took off his forehead protector in public, who wore his bangs so long most of the time you couldn’t even see his eyes - reached up and pushed his forehead protector back so it lifted his hair from his face, to reveal the cursed seal carved on his temple. 

An audible gasp resounded from the watchers in the upper gallery.

“The rest is for you to decide, is it not?” Kuroko, ignored and forgotten branch member of a bloodline clan born with no bloodline, said to his cousin. To his family’s prodigy heir. If Akashi wanted to stop the fight, he could stop it right now. He could _win_ it right now, with a single lift of a finger. 

Akashi smiled the smile that always made the hairs at the back of Kagami’s neck rise. His Byukugan was already awakened, his answer unmistakable. 

“Very well, Tetsuya. We fight.”

_end_


	6. Inquisition (Aomine/Kise)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aomine meets ~~the in-laws~~ Kise's sisters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For [tormalyne](http://archiveofourown.org/users/tormalyne/).
> 
> A podfic version also been recorded and posted by [readerofasaph](http://sicariorum.tumblr.com/) over [here](http://basketballpoetsociety.tumblr.com/post/102350269553/title-inquisition-fic-on-ao3-here-author)!

When Aomine suggested that Kise introduce his sisters to him, he really hadn’t expected Kise to get his revenge by _doing it_. 

On the one hand, Kise’s sisters were seriously hot. They weren’t as stacked as Mai-chan, sure, but Mai-chan was Aomine’s one true love, and as far as runners-up went, they had amazing figures. Aomine had zero complaints there. 

On the other hand, he really didn’t like the way they were smiling at him. They were making self-preservation instincts Aomine’s hindbrain hadn’t even known it had worry. 

One sister took the left armchair. The other sister took the right. Aomine, who had made the mistake of taking the couch, sat surrounded by stunning visions of feminine perfection on both sides and tried not to sweat. 

“So you’re Ryouta’s Aominecchi. He’s told us so much about you,” Kise’s oldest sister - what had she said to call her again? Reina-neesan? said as she twirled a blond curl around a finger. 

The other sister, Rinko-neesan, cocked her head to the side and, after a long, critical moment, said, “Hmm. I suppose he’s not too bad looking. A bit rough though, don’t you think?”

“You can’t just judge by appearances, Rinko. I’m sure he’s really a very nice boy, hm? A little polish around the edges and he won’t be a problem at all.”

Aomine, pinned by that sweet, demure smile, didn’t ask what she meant by polish. Or what she meant by... problem.

“Ryouta says you’re the one who got him into basketball,” Rinko-neesan continued. Aomine nodded mutely. 

“It was such a surprise at the time, but I think basketball really was the best thing to happen to him,” Reina-neesan said. “It’s given him a much more masculine aura. That’s very valuable when the younger models start to get older.”

“It distracts him from the modelling though. His manager was just complaining to me the other day that Kise turns down anything that clashes with his practices and that basically means he can’t schedule any shoots at all.”

“It’s not a bad thing to be a little selective,” Reina mused. “And at least it shows he can get serious about something when he wants to. Mother was starting to worry, you know.”

Rinko-neesan turned her attention back to Aomine, crossed one long, long leg over the other and said, “So, Aominecchi, what do you think of my little brother?” Her smile had _intent_. Aomine considered vaulting backwards off the couch just to escape. But Kise would probably laugh at him forever and tell everyone and then he’d never live this down. 

“Uh,” he said, because the first answers that came to mind: he’s dumb, he’s annoying, he doesn’t know how to quit, but his basketball’s not shit - probably weren’t what they were looking for. “He’s-okay-I-guess?” he croaked when the pause dragged on and it became clear they expected an actual answer. 

“Just... okay?” Reina-neesan said with doe-like eyes, her mouth a prim moue of disappointment. 

“Neesan, are the two of you bullying Aominecchi?” Kise drawled from behind Aomine, his entrance so silent Aomine nearly fell off the couch. “Don’t scare him away!”

He pressed one hand on the back of the couch, the other expertly balancing a tray covered in glasses of juice, and leaned over to offer the drinks to first his sisters, then Aomine. 

“Who, us?” Rinko-neesan said and fluttered her lashes with shameless insincerity as she took her glass. “We were just being friendly."

“It’s your own fault for taking so long to come back,” Reina-neesan told him. “But we won’t intrude any further.” She stood and bent over Aomine while he froze in surprise. A slender, manicured hand took him by the chin, and she leaned in to murmur, “Take good care of my little brother for me, hmm?”

“We wish you nothing but the best of luck, Aominecchi,” Rinko-neesan said. 

Then with one last set of matching smiles, the two girls swept from the living room and back up the stairs, leaving Aomine and Kise alone. A minute later, a distant whoop of unladylike laughter drifted into their hearing. 

Aomine finally remembered to snap his mouth shut. 

“I think my sisters like you,” Kise said from where he was still standing with one hip propped against the couch, smirking like an asshole down at him. “Isn’t that nice?”

“Fuck you,” Aomine said with heartfelt disgust. “What the hell took you so long?”

“But I thought you’d appreciate some time to get to know them~” Kise said and widened his eyes in a perfect replica of his sister’s doe-eyed look. Fortunately, it didn’t work on Aomine when _he_ did it. 

“‘Masculine aura’ my ass,” Aomine said and drained his glass of juice. “Have they actually looked at you? You use fancier shampoo than Satsuki.”

Kise slung himself into the seat beside him. “You don’t know idol models, Aominecchi. Anyway, they just like to tease. I’m sure they’ll play nice now.” 

Yeah, like he was going to believe that. Kise took in his look of blatant disbelief and added, “Don’t be such a wimp. You haven’t seen what they’re like when they _really_ don’t like you.”

“Who’re you calling a wimp?” Aomine muttered. “It’s not like I was scared or anything.”

“Oh? You didn’t exactly look like you were enjoying yourself though.” Kise leaned in, his grin sharp and knowing, his eyes dancing and absolutely sure. 

“Guess that means I get to keep you then,” he said in Aomine’s ear, right before he went in for the kiss. 

_end_


	7. Right Where You Left It (Kiyoshi/Izuki)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kiyoshi comes back to a surprise [post-series]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vague spoilers for the manga ending. 
> 
> For [Sylindara](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Sylindara/pseuds/Sylindara)

The day after he returns from America, Teppei wakes in the too-early hours of the morning and goes for a run. 

It’s Saturday and the streets are quiet but the city is already beginning to wake. Early morning delivery trucks rumble past him on their rounds, the shops half-shuttered while their owners bustle behind their “Closed” signs, and the ocassional housewife or retiree looks up from their garden as he passes. Nothing has changed; in the lull, he can almost believe that he never left. 

It’s a small reassurance, but it steadies him. 

He doesn’t think about where he’s going, just traces a winding, ciruitous route with no greater aim or purpose than the wind in his face. He doesn’t notice where he’s ended up until a girl’s voice shatters the morning peace with a determined yell. 

“Kiyoshi-niisan! Stooooop!” Teppei runs three more steps before a second howl of, “Kiyoshi-niisaaaan! Come baaaack!” pierces the haze of his surprise. He stops, turns, and finally realises that he’s right in front of Izuki’s house and his younger sister is waving at him from her bedroom window

He lifts a hand in a quizzical wave, and she gestures for him to come to the house. He backtracks to their gate and she vanishes from her window. After a brief wait, a bleary-eyed Izuki slides their front door open and shuffles down the driveway. 

“You’re up early,” Teppei says when he unlatches the gate to let him in. It’s baely seven.

“I don’t think even the dead could have slept through that,” Izuki says, and covers a yawn. “The whole neighbourhood must be wide awake now.”

“There can’t be that many dead people in your neighbourhood,” Teppei observes. “I’m sure it’s not that bad.”

Izuki looks nonplussed, then huffs a sigh that might also be a laugh and says, “You haven’t changed at all, huh? It’s way too early in the morning for this.”

“I didn’t expect Mai to be so happy to see me,” Teppei says, because he’s still quite baffled by his reception.

“I told her you got back yesterday, so she must have been waiting to see if you’d pass by. She’s really excited about this.”

“This…?”

“You’ll see in a moment,” Izuki says. “Come on.” He leads him past the house, passing through the garden to the back. 

Teppei hears the barking long before he actually sees Maruo. Something about it sounds different, but he’s not sure what - and then he rounds the corner and sees that it wasn’t Maruo barking after all. Izuki’s backyard has been invaded by a small army of puppies, and Mai and Maruo are in the middle of them, swamped in an energetic, yapping pile of fur. 

He comes to a stop and blinks. 

“I was going to tell you, but Hyuuga said it should be a surprise. I think it’s his idea of revenge or something,” Izuki says. 

One of the puppies detaches itself from its siblings to wander over. Kiyoshi kneels and offers it a hand, and it sniffs him with fearless curiosity and lets him pet it. It’s white and black and looks a little like Maruo but also a lot like--

He pauses and says, “Ah.”

“Remind you of anyone?” Izuki says from behind him, and Kiyoshi doesn’t need to look up to know he’s grinning.

“... Nigou?” Kiyoshi says.

“Bingo! Coach was pretty mad that we all forgot about getting Nigou neutered, but we really didn’t realise how big he’s gotten until this happened. They grow faster than you think they should.”

“What are you going to do with them?” Kiyoshi asked. Izuki’s garden is roomy for a house in Tokyo, but he counts at least six puppies in the chaos and it’s certainly not going to be big enough for all of them and Maruo. 

“Mai-chan’s hoping we can keep at least one, and Coach is trying to persuade her dad to let her take one too. Everyone’s asking around for the rest. But your grandparents already said they’ll take one.”

Kiyoshi looks up, startled. “My grandparents?”

Izuki smiles. “They helped take care of Nigou when you weren’t around. Your grandmother says it makes the place feel livelier, but they’ll leave it up to you to choose which puppy.”

His grandparents must have been a little lonely after all, even though they’d told him they were fine. But maybe not too lonely, if they had Nigou and the team looking after them. Kiyoshi hms, and a second puppy decides to climb into his lap. 

That’s the thing about surprises, right? They catch you unawares, just when you thought you were safe, that maybe all the waiting months had never passed, that everything had stayed right where you left it. But life doesn’t work that way. People can’t stay where you leave them. 

Everyone’s been busy while he was gone. But sometimes, you come back and find puppies. 

“It’s a good surprise,” he says, and smiles up at Izuki. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome-welcome back!” Izuki promptly quips, like he’s been waiting for just this opening. He looks so proud of himself that Kiyoshi sits back and laughs for him under the morning sun. 

He thinks of the rest of the team, of the first years he hasn’t even met yet except in photographs and grainy video clips, of the games he couldn’t play and the games he can - will. The year’s far from over, and there’s work still to be done, even for him. 

Especially for him.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” he says. “I’m back.”

_end_


	8. The Worst Delinquent in Tokyo (Hyuuga/Kiyoshi/Izuki/Riko)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Too bad Hyuuga didn't count on running into Actual Delinquent Kiyoshi Teppei when he quit basketball (the delinquent AU)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for Team Seirin in BPS Team Battle 2015

“What,” Hyuuga asks the universe in general and Izuki in particular, “the hell are we doing.”

Hyuuga has done some pretty dumb things in his life, but prior to today, he could have told you that the single dumbest thing he’s ever done was deciding, when he was twelve, that picking up basketball was a good idea.

Worst idea of his life. _Destroyer of his middle school years_.

But that was half an hour ago. A lot can change in half an hour, Hyuuga is realising now.

For example, you can notice that shady-looking characters are hanging around outside your school. You can notice that they’re talking to Kiyoshi Teppei, the super annoying guy from the next class who hasn’t stopped bugging you since you made the mistake of bumping into him. You can notice that Kiyoshi, like a total moron, is obediently following shady-looking characters who are _definitely really delinquents_.

And then you can decide, in a fit of suicidal stupidity, to follow them.

Now Hyuuga and Izuki are hiding in the back of a deserted warehouse, watching with disbelief as a whole gang surrounds Kiyoshi. They’re wearing the uniform of some school Hyuuga doesn’t recognise, covered in tattoos and piercings, armed with cigarettes. A couple of them are holding baseball bats. This looks exactly like a scene out of a shitty gangster movie. _They’re all going to die_.

“Calling... the…. police?” Izuki says slowly. “I think... we need... to call the police...”

“Then start calling!” he hisses back. Izuki yanks his phone out of his pocket and starts dialing.

They’re too far away to catch most of the conversation, but the gang seems to think Kiyoshi is some guy they call “Iron Heart”. They keep pointing at him and shouting about revenge and all the things they’re going to do to make him sorry. Big words, when there’s eleven of them to one of him. But Kiyoshi isn’t arguing. He stands there like it’s totally normal to be cornered in empty warehouses by yakuza wannabes, and something in his stance, the line of his shoulders, suggests polite disinterest, like he’s actually _bored_ by this.

Izuki is whispering the warehouse’s address into his phone when the gang finally realises their threats aren’t working. Someone gives the signal and they attack all at once, throwing themselves at Kiyoshi.

“Shit!”

The problem with stupid decisions is that they never come alone. First you decide to join the basketball team - then you decide that you need to be good at it. Then you work at it, and keep working because you’re too dumb to admit how useless it is. By the time you realise how stupid you’ve been, three years are gone - and by the time you decide to quit? Even that’s stupid too. You can’t win.

In a grand culmination of all the dumbest things he’s ever done with his life, Hyuuga lurches to his feet and charges with an angry yell.

He doesn’t have to look back to know Izuki is right behind him. They plunge into battle, fists flailing, and Hyuuga catches a glimpse of Kiyoshi gaping at them right before someone elbows him in the side. Things go rapidly downhill from there and he’s pretty sure that they’ll be long dead by the time help arrives, when a shrill whistle pierces the air.

A girl’s voice ( _he knows that voice_ ) shouts, “Police! They’re over here! Quick, catch them before they run! Police!”

Someone in the gang swears. “Fuck! The fuzz is here! Run!”

They run, and keep running until Kiyoshi thinks they’re far enough to be safe (from the gang or the police?) and lets them stop under a flyover.

Hyuuga collapses on the ground in a heap, Izuki beside him. For a moment, they lie there and wheeze like they’re going to die. Izuki has a black eye. Hyuuga hurts all over, blood is trickling from his cut lip all over his shirt, and yet somehow, his glasses have survived miraculously intact.

Kiyoshi looks down at them, expression baffled and says, “What were the two of you doing there?”

“You’re asking _us_?” Hyuuga says, incredulous. “Why the hell did you even go with them?!”

A girl’s voice, the same voice that shouted for the police, says, “That’s because they’re from Ishiyama High, right? Did they threaten to target Seirin students if you didn’t come?”

Hyuuga sits back up with a lurch. “Riko!”

She folds her arms and glares down at them. “Do you know what would have happened if I hadn’t done that?” she demands.

“We’d be dead,” Izuki admits, and huffs a relieved laugh up at her. “Thanks.”

“How’d you even find us?!”

She rolls her eyes. “The same way you did, obviously,” she says, jerking a thumb in Kiyoshi’s direction. “I saw those lowlifes hanging around and was going to tell a teacher, but then I saw you guys following him and thought I’d better come and make sure you weren’t in trouble.”

“Ha. Haha. Thanks,” Kiyoshi says and smiles at her, already back to his affably cheerful school self, like he wasn’t throwing punches like a pro just ten minutes ago. Eleven to one are cowardly odds to pull, but after seeing the way Kiyoshi fights, Hyuuga’s not surprised the gang hedged their bets with numbers like that.

“Guess going straight isn’t as easy as I thought it’d be,” Kiyoshi adds and looks incongruously sheepish about it.

Now that he can breathe again, Hyuuga’s brain finally puts the pieces together. It's a horrifying picture. “You’re a delinquent,” he says. “They were calling you Iron Heart. You have a _nickname_. You’re a _famous delinquent_. Did you even need our help back there?!”

“Oh. That name,” Kiyoshi says. “They just came up with that on their own. It doesn’t mean anything! I would definitely be in trouble if it wasn’t for you guys!”

“Do you really expect us to believe that?! We were the ones in trouble back there!”

“You’re not much of a fighter, are you?” Kiyoshi observes. “Is that why you went straight? It’s nothing to be embarrassed about, I was really glad to see I wasn’t the only one in Seirin!”

Hyuuga’s jaw drops and stays there. Riko and Izuki blink at Kiyoshi, then turn to look at each other. On cue, they start laughing so hard that Izuki has to lie back down and Riko doubles over to clutch her sides. In between their howls of mirth:

“Went.. straight….” “Not... much… of a fighter….” “Embarrassed!" ”Worst... delinquent... ever!”

Kiyoshi blinks. Hyuuga yells, to no effect whatsoever, “Shut up! Stop laughing!”

Next time, Hyuuga promises himself. The gangsters want him? They can have him. Next time, he’s going to just _leave this asshole there to die_.

 

 

“Hey,” Kiyoshi says one week later. “Izuki says you guys used to play basketball together. Why don’t you teach me? I’ve never played before, but it sounds fun.”

Hyuuga slowly swivels his head to stare Izuki, sitting beside him looking innocent, in the eye. Izuki smiles like he hasn’t just betrayed four years of friendship in one fell, unforgivable, blow.

“Well, you cut your hair and dyed it back,” he says, like that has anything to do with anything. It’s not like running into real delinquents made Hyuuga decide that maybe he didn’t want to be a delinquent after all, okay? And even if it did, it doesn’t mean he’s going back to basketball!

“We can start a club!” Kiyoshi suggests, beaming.

_Hyuuga Junpei hates his life._

 

_end_


	9. The Boy From the Other Side (Kagami/Kuroko)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The transfer student appears in Seirin High School Class 1-D at 8.30am on Tuesday morning (World Trigger AU)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for Team Seirin in BPS Team Battle 2015

The transfer student appears in Seirin High School Class 1-D at 8.30am on Tuesday morning. He is very tall, his hair is red, and he has just returned from America, the teacher tells them. When she asks him to introduce himself, he stares back at the staring class, shrugs after an uncomfortable moment, and says, “Kagami Taiga.”

Since he doesn’t seem to have anything else to say for himself, Shino-sensei casts a cursory glance around the room. “Why don’t you take the empty seat behind Yama--”

Kuroko, who is in fact seated behind Yamazaki and can see where this is going, raises his hand. “Sensei, he can take the empty seat behind me.”

Shino-sensei starts and only barely tries to hide it. “Oh, Kuroko! D-didn’t see you for a minute. Right, Kagami, please take the seat behind Kuroko. He can help you if you have any questions.”

The rest of the day passes uneventfully. Kagami makes very little attempt at conversation; Kuroko shows him where to buy lunch, then watches as he awkwardly fends off the rest of the class while they interrogate him about America. By the time the last bell of the day rings, Kagami seems both frazzled and frustrated, like a confused tiger in a very small cage. He’s out of the class before anyone can stop him.

“Not very friendly, is he?” Yamazaki comments, disappointed.

“Maybe he’s shy,” one of the girls, Rina, suggests.

“Hmph,” Yamazaki says, unconvinced. ‘He didn’t know anything about basketball at all. I thought basketball was huge in America.”

“Not everyone’s as sports-crazy as you, you know!”

Kuroko packs up his own books, says his goodbyes and leaves. Kagami moves fast, but Kuroko knows the school better, and he makes it to the school gates in time to see a tall figure turn off the street at the next junction. 

He runs. 

Kagami walks, Kuroko trailing unseen behind him. They leave the school and residential districts behind, headed east. Every now and then, Kagami looks up towards the great monolith looming in the distance, and his pace quickens. His destination is clear.

He’s headed for the hazard zone. 

The neighbourhood around them changes, the buildings shabbier, more worn-down. If you know where to look, some still show the damage from the invasion, barely patched over. Small gangs loiter outside the pachinko parlours and shops, smoking, and Kuroko can feel them watching as Kagami passes by, out-of-place in his school uniform. If Kagami notices, he doesn’t care. 

He’s nearly at the hazard zone when trouble finds him. A group of boys, maybe university age, stand on one of the street corners, talking and laughing loudly. Kagami makes the mistake of cutting a path through them, and in an instant, they’ve surrounded him. When he turns, angry, and tries to jostle his way through, one of the boys immediately clutches his arm, feigning injury loudly and dramatically. His friends shout accusations, threats, demands for money. 

Kuroko breaks into a run. His communicator is in his pocket, waiting, but they’re still on the right side of the hazard zone fence, so he can’t make the excuse of reporting them for trespassing. And as for reporting Kagami--

He weaves into the middle of the crowd just in time to see Kagami draw back his arm, ready to strike. For lack of a better idea, Kuroko jabs him hard in the side. To his surprise, this works. Kagami doubles over with a howl. 

“Kagami, I do not think it is advisable to prove their accusations by being provoked into a fight,” he says.

Kagami glares at him. “You! What the fuck was that for? Where the hell did you--”

The gang, uncertain whose side Kuroko is really on, are confused enough to just stand and gape. “Who’s that?” “What happened?” “Where the hell did he come from?!”

“This seems like a low thing to do,” Kuroko says to them. “If my friend has caused you trouble, wouldn’t it be best to settle the dispute by reporting it to the police? And if your friend’s injury is so serious, he needs medical assistance.” 

He takes his phone and begins to dial. “Hey, hey, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” 

“Didn’t you friend say he has a broken arm? He will need an ambulance--”

“Oi, you expect us to believe that? Stop dialling! Someone grab--”

The warning siren interrupts the argument with a scream. All of them, Kuroko included, flinch at the noise. 

A mechanical voice announces, with clinical calm, “Gate opening. Gate opening. Coordinates Induction Error: 7.66. Everyone in the vicinity, please be careful. Evacuation advised.”

The warning has come too late. The air is already crackling around them, electricity on the skin, ozone on the tongue, a trick of the bending light--

A black hole opens in the fabric of the world and a monster descends upon them. Kuroko looks up at the Neighbour. He doesn’t sigh, but he does think about it.

This is turning out to be a very, very long day. 

 

 

“All of you, run!” Kuroko shouts. “Get out of here!”

Unfortunately, the gang has lost all its bravado and panicked. Half of them manage to turn and flee, but the other half trip over themselves and stumble. There’s no way they’re going to get away in time. The Trion soldier roars and lumbers over to the slowest stragglers, faster than it looks. Lunging, it grabs a boy by his flailing leg.

He screams as it yanks him up into the air--

Just as a black-suited figure launches itself straight at the Trion soldier with a kick.

The kick slams the Trion soldier back, forcing it to open its jaws and release its victim. He falls, screaming, but Kuroko has already activated his trigger. He leaps up, kicks off from the nearest building, and manages to catch him in mid-air. They land safely in the middle of the street.

Kuroko puts him down and turns back to the battle.

The black figure has bought the gang time to escape by driving the Trion soldier back, pushing it in the direction of the hazard zone. He has no visible weapon that Kuroko can see, but he ricochets through the air like a pinball and his kicks are so powerful that they’re cracking the the Trion soldier’s armour.

It doesn’t stand a chance. One last strike - and the armour shatters.

When the explosion settles and the air clears, Kagami Taiga stands in the debris, back in his school uniform, and punches the air in triumph. He’s clearly forgotten about his surroundings, because when he turns to see Kuroko watching him, he jumps.

“Gah! How long were you there?!”

“I’ve been standing here all along,” Kuroko points out, and looks around. Several lamp posts and a couple of buildings were destroyed in the fight, but this district is not densely populated, so at least it looks like there were no civilian casualties. For an unexpected attack that should not have happened out of the hazard zone, things could be much worse.

Kagami is still staring at him. “Hey, wait, that uniform’s different - you have a Trion form too? And that logo--”

He turns to look at Border headquarters, looming in the distance, and the enormous logo that covers its western side.

“You’re one of them?!”

Kuroko says, “Yes, I am a Border agent. I am Rank B, though I currently do not have a squad.”

“Shit!”

This was not how Kuroko had hoped things would go, but then again, he wasn’t really sure how any of this _could_ go. It’s not every day that you see someone get hit by a car while on your way to school, then get straight back up like nothing happened. And you certainly don’t expect to see that same person walk into your classroom one week later, wearing your school uniform.

“You’re not from America, are you?” Kuroko says.

Kagami is starting to look frazzled again. He really doesn’t seem to be very good at lying at all. Kuroko looks at the Border headquarters in the distance and thinks, for a moment, of Ogiwara.

“Kagami. You came here from the other side, didn’t you? Why?”

Is he a Neighbour? Or could he be, against all odds and possibilities, a former prisoner coming home?

Just then, the communicator in Kuroko’s pocket beeps.

“Agent, report the situation. Where’s the Neighbour?” a voice demands.

“The Trion soldier has been taken care of,” Kuroko says. “But we have a slightly different situation. May I know which squad this is?”

“This is Aida Squad 1, and who the hell are you?” the voice snaps grumpily. “Don’t get cheeky with me!”

Kagami and Kuroko look up, and see three figures standing on the roofs of the buildings around them. They’re surrounded. Kagami swears, on the verge of bolting. And after seeing what Kagami can do, Kuroko’s not entirely sure they’ll be able to stop him if he tries to run for it. And if they can’t stop him by force, then--

Kuroko comes to a decision. “Captain, my name is Kuroko Tetsuya and I’ll like to report a human Neighbour,” he says. “He says he has come to Border to help us.”

“What?!” says the communicator.

“ _What?!_ ” says Kagami. 

 

_end_


End file.
